Rebellious Hearts
by HarlequinRavenwing
Summary: ONE SHOT - Ferelden assassin Marian Hawke and apostate mage Anders find love in the city of Kirkwall. Rated M for a magically enhanced encounter in chapter 2! All characters property of Bioware.
1. The Rogue

THE ROGUE

It was easy to be a rogue in Darktown.

Slipping through the winding alleyways and twisting labyrinthine corridors was so much easier if you knew how to blend into the background and go largely unnoticed by the local thugs and carta members who might otherwise think you looked like an easy mark.

Not that Marian Hawke was anything of the sort.

The daughter of an apostate and a noblewoman, sister to a slain mage and with a brother who was now a maker-cursed templar, Marian had always felt like the black sheep of the family.

For one thing, in a family whose veins ran thick with magical blood, she had never ever shown even the slightest ability in any of the known schools of magic. Growing up, she had watched with jealous envy as her father had dandled her younger sister Bethany on his knee, delighting in her obvious abilities to manipulate the elemental energies need for casting spells, and how it hurt to see them laughing together as if sharing some secret joke that Marian knew she could never be part of. Though her brother Carver was no mage, her father had instead taught him the ways of the blade and took as much pride in seeing his son's ability with the great-sword develop as much as his daughter's talent with the spell book. Just what he would say now if he saw that his only son's magical ability was being channelled for the benefit of the templar order, that was something else entirely, but back then he had been as proud of the twins as he possibly could have been.

With Marian though, it often felt as if he had shown her nothing but his disappointment.

She had been too lacking in natural ability to study magic and too lacking in physical strength to learn how to fight with the sword and shield. Her mother had told her that her father loved her as much as he did her younger siblings, but there had been times she swore she could see nothing but his regret in his eyes that he could not understand his troublesome, elder daughter.

In truth, she spent her days hanging out with the local boys, getting into fights, running with the gangs and learning all the skills her father disapproved of. How to sneak around without being seen, how to steal without being caught and where to hit a man to disorient him enough to make a quick getaway. Later, as her body began to assume a more womanly shape, she learned how to attract the boys she wanted and take them to her bed for the love and attention she so craved. These fleeting embraces and snatched moments of sexual awakenings had brought her small comfort since the boys always moved on and it was really the love and approval of her father she wanted.

Instead, she earned only his forlorn frustration as he tried to set her on what he believed was a straight and narrow path.

For Marian Hawke, it only served to isolate her even more from the family she loved and resented both at the same time.

One day, a troupe of performers had come to the village, all dressed in motely and playing instruments, signing songs, dancing and performing acrobatics that dazzled and delighted the assembled crowds. It was then she had met _him_…

Armando Marachi was an Antivan acrobat. Slender, dark haired and dark skinned with slanted blue eyes that were as cold as his smile was warm. He was also an elf 'born and bred in glorious Antiva city itself' he would later tell her as they lay in Farmer Thorn's field after making love for what seemed like hours. He had taught her things she had never believed possible, ways of pleasuring a man and ways to be pleasured that made her tremble with anticipation every time he touched even so much a finger to her sensitive skin. These lessons in desire also taught her the meaning of love and for the first time, Marian lost her heart to this wonderfully handsome and multi-talented acrobat.

It was one of the reasons she ran away with him when the troupe left the village.

One of the reasons…but not the only one.

See, it turned out Armando was much more than a mere acrobat. He had also been an assassin.

Though he was no Antivan Crow, he knew enough of the art of stealth and murder to be able to train Marian in the use of seduction, poisons and of course, the twin blades. They would spend as many hours training with dual-weapons as they did running about the rooftops of the villages and outposts learning about balance and acrobatics as they travelled around Ferelden. Then at night, when the other members of the troop were asleep, then he would make love to her with a passion she had only dreamt about and more often than not, she would wake more exhausted than when they had first gone to bed.

It was an exciting time, full of adventure and desire, but alas it had ended all too quickly.

Armando had been approached by a wealthy merchant from Denerim to _take care_ of a wealthy rival. Of course he had agreed as Maker knows, they were low on money and trying to save enough to travel across the waking sea and set up a home together on Antivan shores. Unfortunately, performing only brought in so much and it had been a hard few months and so Armando had accepted the job. The problem was, the merchant's rival was a guardsman in the pay of one of the local crime cartels and they had caught Armando as soon as he tried to make a move on their man. Armando had managed to escape them initially and made his way back to Marian, only to tell her to run back to her family and to safety. She had argued against it, offering to fight by his side and wept in desperation when he bade her leave, but Armando was adamant. He would rather see the girl he loved back in the arms of her father, than know she died at his side for nothing more than a few silvers and a dream of what could have been. That's when she had heard them arriving outside the inn.

She would always remember the last kiss he gave her before he took up his weapons and ran out the front door with a cold smile on his lips and a challenge in his voice. Marian never saw the fight, but the memoires of his cries as they cut him to pieces still haunted her dreams from time to time.

She guessed it always would.

But he had bought her time with his life and months later, she finally arrived back in Lothering and cautiously knocked on the door to the family home. She'd expected her father to be furious and demand that she leave the house at once, but instead he had fallen to his knees and gathered her up in his arms and held her to his chest as if he would never let her go again. Her mother too had been overcome with emotion at seeing her and even little Bethany and Carver had cried with happiness that their elder sister had returned. They all asked questions, the who's, what's and where's coming at her from all directions, but her father had simply shushed them with a word and looked her straight in the eye. He knew she would tell him when she was ready and right then it didn't matter anyway.

She loved him for it all the more.

Their relationship had changed after that. Her father saw her more as an adult, though she was still in her teens. He spoke to her of his fears for them all and of his regret that his children had not been spared the problems that magic could bring. In Marian, it turned out he had never seen a black sheep, but a beautiful, fierce young woman who knew her own mind and her own heart with a certainty that most people could only envy.

She was so like him, the same raven-black hair, the same cool grey eyes brimming with intelligence and the same pale skin that separated her from her sun-kissed siblings with their rich brown eyes like her mother's. They were two of a kind, and even though she never did tell him the whole story about Armando, he seemed to understand her grief from the small details that she'd given him, and he would always comfort her when her heart threatened to break from missing the elf so much.

He'd told her that love was one of the Maker's most powerful creations, and that even though it was lost for now, there would be a time when she would love again and be loved in turn. That day, he would welcome the lucky man into his house and know the husband his precious daughter had chosen.

Of course, the arrogance of youth had ensured that she hadn't believed him, but he was right…and he was also wrong.

Malcolm Hawke would never meet the man she now loved with all her heart. Her father died in 9:27 Dragon.

Determined not to let her father down anymore and in order to look after her family, Marian took service with the Ferelden army as a scout. Carver had followed a year later, lending his own sword to the ranks of armed men that swore service to King Cailan and the Theirin line. Between them, they had earned enough to keep a roof over the heads of their mother and sister and though they were often away from home, the Hawke siblings never forgot the reason they were there. For three long years, they fought for King and Country until that fateful day at Ostagar when the Blight took from them not only their sovereign Lord, but their friends, their comrades and their dear sister Bethany.

That's when the remaining Hawkes had flown to Kirkwall.

That's when they had struggled to make a new home and a new place for themselves in a city that did not welcome them with open arms, but treated them like refugee scum who did not deserve to set foot upon the great stone steps that led up from the docks.

That's when Marian thought she had lost everything…but ended up meeting the best friends she'd ever known in her entire life.

Aveline Vallen, fellow Ferelden and the bravest warrior Marian had ever known, and now Captain of the Guard.

Varric Tethras, the incorrigible dwarven teller of tales and probably the best friend Marian had in this world.

Isabella, lusty former Captain of The Siren's Call and as big a rogue as Marian herself!

Merrill of the Dalish, naïve and sweet and possibly a blood-mage who would as likely kill them with kindness as with a ravening demon and finally, Fenris of Tevinter, the enigmatic tattooed warrior who was as terrifyingly powerful as he was beautifully handsome.

Then there was the _one_.

That man her father had told her about.

The man he told her would love her just as much as she loved him…or at least she thought he did.

It was difficult to tell sometimes with Anders…

Marian felt her stomach bunching into knots as she climbed the wooden staircase that led to his clinic. It was late, but more often than not Anders was still awake, drawing on the last of his strength to treat the weak and the sick, who often spent the entire day queuing up outside his door just to spend a few moments with the healer.

Lately it had been hard for the former Grey Warden. The Kirkwall Chantry seemed to have just about declared war on every mage that dared to breath the same air as the rest of the population and the templars were constantly on the look-out for apostates who thought they could avoid joining a Circle of Magi that, if reports were to be believed, was as much at the mercy of Knight-Commander Meredith as those who remained outside its influence.

As for Anders himself…well, Anders was much more than just an apostate.

Technically, Anders was an abomination.

Marian remembered her fear when he'd told them all, that he was _merged_ with a spirit of justice and struggled every day just to keep control of himself. For years and years, he had battled not only for the cause of mages everywhere, but to hold onto his sanity as the spirit changed within him from a benign protector to a vengeful creature, torn and twisted by outrage and anger at the treatment doled out to mages by an unforgiving Chantry. Maker knows, Marian had seen it herself when they had first met and tried to help the tormented mage to free his former lover Karl, only to discover he had been made tranquil. It had been a trap, set by the templars to try and catch the former Grey Warden, but they hadn't counted on Justice as being part of the package. Marian could still hear their screams as the spirit had wreaked its terrible revenge, but she had also seen just how painful it was to Anders to know that he was losing control. The fear and torment she had seen in his melancholy caramel eyes had stayed with her every day since then, and as those days, months, years had passed, Anders' burden had only seemed to grow heavier.

Yet, there was something else that burned in his eyes too. An emotion that sometimes found its way into his speech when he was feeling less guarded around her. It was a powerful feeling that was growing steadily between them, pulling them toward one another as moths pull toward the flame and for Marian, it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the demands of her pounding heart when she thought of the sandy-haired mage and of what fires burned within his passionate soul.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she began to gently push open the door of the clinic.

Tonight she needed to tell him how she felt.

Tonight, she would know whether she had a chance…

"Here puss puss puss!"

Marian hid her smile as she watched the mage crouching down to lay a saucer of milk upon the ground. "Anders…what on earth are you doing?"

"Putting out milk." He answered without turning to look back at her and apparently unsurprised at her presence. "I miss having a cat around, but I think the refugees have scared them all off…or maybe eaten them!"

When he finally faced her, Marian's heart leapt into her throat. He was obviously getting ready for bed and his robes were open to the waist, revealing enough of his body beneath the heavy fabric for her to see that he was more muscular than she had expected.

"You know, I've been meaning to thank you." If he was aware of the deep blush that was creeping up her neck and into her cheeks, he was enough of a gentleman not to mention it. "You don't need to stick your neck out for the mages here, but you have. You let those apostates from Starkhaven start over. Maybe they can be an example for the world?"

He was stood so close that Marian wasn't even aware that she was touching his face until she felt his rough stubble beneath her fingertips. For a moment, she couldn't speak and simply looked deeply into his troubled eyes, seeing something that she hoped reflected the feelings that were stirring deep inside her own consciousness.

"Anders…" She breathed, her eyes wandering to his full, pouting lips. "I would be lying if I said I did it just for them. When I see them, I see you and it would destroy me inside if anything like that were to happen to you…"

She held her breath as he allowed himself to be pulled closer to her. His hands found her hips and he gently reciprocated, pulling her against his body as he lowered his face to hers, his lips barely touching her own…

Suddenly a pained look creased his face and he pushed her back as he reached up to run his slender fingers through the loose strands of his sandy-blonde hair.

"I've tried to hold back, you saw what I almost did to that girl!" His voice was quavering with emotion as he spoke and he was shaking. "You've seen what I am, but I'm still a man. You can't tease me like this and expect me to resist for ever!"

"I don't want you to resist." Marian said simply, confusion tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I want…I want you!"

She gasped as the mage surged forward, catching her in his arms as he pushed her against one of the roughly hewn pillars supporting the clinic roof. His lips found hers and his hands tangled in her hair as he held her in place, pushing his tongue deeply into her mouth and twining it around her own as he devoured her love and her passion and returned it tenfold. Marian sighed softly as she pushed her hips against his groin, feeling his growing hardness even through the leather of his breeches and she trailed her hands over his exposed chest, delighting in the sensation of his skin beneath her fingers and closing her eyes as she imagined just what it would feel like to have that same body pressing down upon her own nakedness. She couldn't help but moan with pleasure as he began nipping at the sensitive skin beneath her ear and she responded by sliding her hands over his body, enjoying the hardened contours of his muscular frame.

"This will be a disaster…" He panted, snatching the words between his kisses. "But I can't live without it. We could die tomorrow, but I don't want it to be before I tell you how I feel."

"I never expected to feel like this …" Marian felt so overcome that she almost slid to the ground when the mage stepped back and looked at her with such a mixture of infinite tenderness and infinite sorrow, that she wanted to weep with the raw emotion that was pouring out of the tortured man before her.

"I thought with Justice…this part of me was over." He looked down at himself and sighed as he shook his head. "I…I can't give you a normal life. If you're with me we'll be hunted, hated, the whole world will be against us."

"Anders…"

"Please..." He held up a hand and offered her a sad smile. "Listen to me. If your door is open tonight, I will come to you. If not, I'll know you took my warning at last."

Marian stared in disbelief as Anders pulled the front of his tunic together and then staggered over to the small table by his bed. He reached for pitcher of wine and then poured himself a large cup of the golden liquid before drinking deeply, almost emptying the whole cup in one swallow. With shaking hands, he set the cup back down upon the table-top and leaned heavily on its wooden surface. He was still trembling, his sandy hair loose about his face and his eyes closed as if deep in thought. If the way she was feeling was anything to go on, Marian could only imagine that he too was struggling to bring himself under control, though if he had wanted to make love to her in this place, she would not have stopped him but gladly welcomed the feel of his body inside hers, easing an ache that had been too long in the making.

Still, she didn't want to rush him into anything that could jeopardise any chance of a relationship and so she gathered her thoughts and gave him the time he needed to think things through.

"I'll be waiting for you, Anders…" She whispered, by way of small reassurance and then hurried out of the clinic door back into the winding streets of Darktown.

If anyone was waiting to ambush her on the journey home, then Maker help them.

Nothing was going to come between her and Anders now.


	2. The Mage

THE MAGE

Andraste's Holy arse but his heart was pounding loudly enough to wake half the bloody household!

Anders hadn't felt this nervous since he had last been at the Gallows, surrounded by a dozen templars and just why exactly was that? It wasn't like he hadn't had his fair share of women over the years, or men come to think of it. Hells, he'd often been complimented on his skills as a lover and had certainly learned enough tricks by now to know how to make a woman quiver with delight as she called his name in the throes of rapture…

But then, this was no ordinary woman and he was no longer the carefree, reckless apostate he'd been all those years ago.

This was Hawke.

This was Marian Hawke and he was here…in her house…waiting to climb the great stone staircase that led to her room…where she would be waiting…for him…

And he was practically shaking.

"Pull yourself together…" He muttered quietly under his breath and then remembered that the elderly dwarf who had admitted him to the mansion was still there, stood in his nightgown waiting patiently to see if he needed anything else. "Sorry if I disturbed you, Bodahn, but I…um...I can find my way from here, thank you."

The elderly house-servant simply shrugged and smiled. "Don't give it a second thought, Messere. The Lady Hawke said that she might be expecting a gentleman caller and if I may say, I'm actually rather pleased to see that it is your good self. Maker knows, Sandal thinks mighty highly of you too Messere, and you've always been kind to my boy."

"Well that's…great, I mean…really great." Anders felt his skin staring to redden as the dwarf beamed innocently at him. "If there's nothing else then…uh, good night."

"Good night, Messere." Bodahn said happily and then disappeared in the direction of the servants quarters.

Servants quarters…the Hawke estate was a world away from the hovels of Darktown, that much was for certain.

What in the nine hells was he doing here?

Probably best just to turn around now and go back to the clinic. There were preparations to be made, mages to be liberated _from the shackles of Chantry oppression, justice to be brought to those who seek to oppose us, and vengeance to be dealt out to those who… _

Anders scowled darkly as the spirit within him sought to assert itself and make its presence known.

'No, Justice.' The thoughts resounded loudly in his head. 'I'm not leaving her, not now. I've come this far.'

_You have let yourself be distracted by this woman. She is not even one of us…_

'One of us? And what exactly is one of us?'

_She is not magi. She seeks to sway you from your purpose._

'She has fought as hard as anyone for the cause of mages, and probably more than most!'

_But your heart is not your own when you are with her. I feel you yearning for her touch when you look upon her. You burn inside and can think of nothing else when she is with you._

'You're right, and that's why I'm going up there now. To surrender to my love and lose myself in her arms.'

_But she is not one of us_

'You're damn right she's not! She's whole, and warm and more beautiful to me than any other woman I have known and you know what? I love her! Yes, that's right! I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her…'

_Your life is now dedicated to a higher purpose…_

'As long as I draw breath, my life will be my own and I will share it with whomever I choose!'

_You would share your entire life with this woman? Everything you are…everything you do?_

'Gladly, though I do not make the decision lightly. I know what this means.'

_Our existence does not allow…_

'My _existence_ is part of the problem. I don't want to just _exist, _I want to live…and part of being alive is knowing what it is like to love, to be loved and…' Anders swallowed hard as his eyes drifted once more to the stone staircase. '…and to make love. If you can't understand that then, just stay out of my way. Tonight, there is no vengeance and no justice. Tonight there is no rebellion and no oppression.'

He looked down at his clenched fists and forced himself to relax.

"Tonight there is only Anders and Hawke, and I will know peace…"

He spoke those final words aloud, as if their very utterance could banish Justice from his soul completely, and he breathed in deeply, letting the warm air fill his lungs and ease the rapid beating of his heart…

And then he waited…

Silence.

Whatever doubts or misgivings Justice had tried to insinuate into his thoughts had been cleansed from his mind as Anders reasserted his control, and there was nothing to be heard now except for the crackling of the logs that were burning in the open fire.

The mage exhaled slowly, breathing out all the tension that had built in the back of his neck and expelling the urge to leave as quickly as it had come upon him. Now all he had to do was climb those stairs…

It seemed to take forever, or his legs were just shaking so much that it only felt like forever before he reached the top, but there was something reassuring about the coolness of the iron door-handle as he eased it down and pushed open the door to Hawke's bedroom.

Matter of fact, he was just glad he was holding onto something when he spotted her standing by the fire in a white silken shift. The soft curves of her body were silhouetted by the firelight and the way her long, black hair tumbled over her shoulders and brushed against the tops of her breasts, almost took his breath away.

"You're here…" She gasped with a smile that made him feel more certain than ever, that this was probably the best decision he had made in his life. "I wasn't sure that you would come."

"Justice does not approve of my obsession with you." He answered honestly, stepping fully through the door and closing it behind him. "He believes you are…a distraction. It is one of the few things on which he and I disagree."

She looked away shyly under his scrutiny, which Anders suddenly found incredibly attractive. Her pale skin almost glistened in the firelight and the way she held one elegant hand to her mouth and nibbled nervously at her fingertips, made his pulse quicken with desire. As his eyes accustomed themselves to the flickering light, he could see the dark peaks of her nipples, stiff and alert through the sheer fabric and beneath, he could clearly make out the dark triangle of hair that covered the entrance to her sex.

"I'm glad you're here." She murmured softly as he drew toward her, and finally raised her head to meet his level gaze. "If you hadn't come, I would have come looking for you."

Her eyes were large and full of the very emotions which seemed to call to the very core of Anders' being and tug insistently at his heart and his loins. Her full, red lips were moist with saliva and she held them parted in such a way that he was almost compelled to steal her kisses there and then.

But there was something to be said first.

Something he truly needed to say.

"When I was in the circle, love was only a game." He gently brushed the back of his hand against her cheek and marvelled at the softness of her skin. "It gave the templars too much power if there was something you couldn't stand to lose. It would kill me to lose you…"

Hawke sighed softly as he leaned into him, and he wrapped his arms about her waist as she rested her head against his chest. "You aren't ever going to lose me, Anders. I love you too much to let you go…"

"No mage I know has ever dared to fall in love." He answered in a voice that was choked with emotion and then lifted his fingers to her chin and tilted her face toward his. "This is the rule I will most cherish breaking…"

Her lips met his and he greedily drank in her taste and her scent with each and every exploration of his senses. He could feel her body, lithe and voluptuous as she pressed against him and he closed his eyes, sighing contentedly as she filled him with her very essence. Her kisses became even more passionate as he smoothed his hands over her shift. The thin silk was nothing but a flimsy barrier between his hands and her naked skin, and he felt his member stirring uncomfortably within the confines of his breeches as his growing need began to feed hot blood into his aching shaft.

"Anders…wait…" she murmured, pushing away from him as she broke free from his embrace and stepped backward toward her bed.

For a minute he was concerned he had gone too far, that he had maybe moved too fast, but then he noticed the shameless look upon her face as her fingers twined with the laces of her shift. He could tell she took pleasure in seeing him watch her, as she slowly and deliberately shrugged first one, then the other shoulder out of the sheer fabric causing it to slide effortlessly to the floor.

Anders felt giddy as his pulse quickened and he couldn't help but smile as he looked upon her naked form.

Maker's breath, but she was a beautiful woman…

She stood before him, as confident in her body as any woman he'd ever known. Her legs were long and strong and the muscles in her thighs were as toned and taught as those of a dancer. Her hips were smooth and generous, curving up delightfully to meet the tight circle of her waist and the flat plane of her toned stomach. Her breasts…her wonderfully large, firm breasts stood proudly from her chest, each displaying a darkly pink nipple that was already pert with arousal.

"Tell me Anders…" She asked, looking at him through her long, dark lashes with those unnervingly clear grey eyes of hers. "Do I…please you?"

He felt a shiver running up and down his spine as she teasingly trailed a finger down through the valley between those delicious mounds toward the dark curling hair that covered her sex.

"Please me?" He gasped, moving toward her and reaching out to take her hand in his. "Marian Hawke, you are…magnificent and Andraste help me, but I worship you…I worship you with every fibre of my being."

"Anders…"

"Hush, my love…I would show you the depth of my feeling, if you would permit?"

She nodded once and held his gaze as she relaxed onto the soft blankets that covered her bed. Seeing her before him, her eyes full of longing and her bold nakedness an open invitation to his touch and taste was almost too much to bear. A part of him, the part that now ached and throbbed with an intensity he had never imagined, wanted him to take her, to enter her swiftly and fill her so completely that she would cry out with each violent eruption of his seed as he spilled inside her womb.

But there was time enough for such things…

For now, he just wanted to know her pleasure and to learn the rhythms of her need.

Her eyes never left his as he quickly divested himself of his outer robes, dropping the feathered garment to the floor in a rather unceremonious heap. The tattered undershirt was practically falling off him anyway, and as he pulled it over his head, he was pleased to see the look of admiration in Hawkes's eyes as she stared at his body. Mage or no, he'd always been fortunate enough to keep in shape and there was a certain pride in knowing that his masculine appearance delighted her, as much as her soft feminine curves delighted him.

Like a cat stalking his prey, Anders climbed over her delicious form and immediately sought the softness of her mouth. His tongue playfully tangled with hers as he lowered himself on top of her and he moaned as his skin finally made contact with hers, revelling in the feel of her pleasant warmth. She whimpered softly when he reached up to touch the swell of her breast and he felt her shudder beneath him as his palm ghosted across her tender nipple. Panting his want into her hungry mouth, he gently squeezed the pliant flesh and delighted in the way she reacted, arching her back and wrapping one of her long legs around his waist.

Reluctantly, he left the moist heaven of her lips and instead pressed his own to her nipple. She mewled like a kitten as he began to suckle upon her, teasing and tugging at her responsive tip with his teeth and flicking his tongue over and over its sensitive surface. His hand trailed down her stomach, cresting the gentle swell of her abdomen and pushing through the hair that led to the centre of her core. Her nether lips were swollen and wet, and as he pushed his fingers between them, he savoured the slickness of her juices as she covered him in her arousal.

By Andraste's sweet and perfect teats, she was so wet…so wonderfully perfectly wet…

She cried out his name as he slid a long and eager digit deep inside her, a second coming to rest alongside it a heartbeat later. Her inner muscles reached around him, squeezing and pulsing as he pushed into her, seeking the sweet spot that would make her sing with ecstasy as he fucked her with his fingers.

But he wanted to give her more than just an orgasm. He wanted to give her more than just his love and his lust.

With her…with Marian Hawke, he wanted to share it all.

Arcane phrases fell from Anders' trembling lips as a surge of mana crept up his spine and blossomed into raw electrical power. He felt each subtle jolt as his limbs were infused with magical energy and he smiled to see white arcs of energy playing across his skin.

"Anders…?" Hawke breathed, watching him curiously through her heavily lidded eyes.

"Do you trust me?" He asked, crooking his finger inside her and finding her clitoris with the pad of his thumb.

"Oh Maker…yes…I trust you" She nodded and bit down on her lip as her inner walls throbbed insistently around him. "I trust you …"

Anders couldn't help but grin as the magic finally reached his extremities and then…

"Anders…Oh fuck!"

The crackling tingle from the electrical discharge that pulsed outward from his body was almost as pleasurable as seeing the look on Hawke's face as tiny bolts of light lanced into her red and glistening sex. She bucked violently, whimpering and reacting to this new stimulus with as much passion and abandon as he had only dreamed of. She was positively dripping as he moved his thumb in frantic circles over her swollen and sensitive nub, and the magical energies that flickered between her quivering lips only seemed to add to her pleasure.

He groaned loudly as he felt the first stirrings of her climax seize his fingers in a vice-like grip and he gently worked her, sliding them back and forth as arcane power merged with sexual delight to push her to the edge of something, he hoped, was as wonderful as seeing her react in this way.

"Anders…don't stop…don't…" she gasped as she pushed urgently against his sparking hand. "Oh Anders…I can't…I can't take it…"

"You can, my love." He whispered, smiling as he she tried feebly to escape his magical manipulations. "Just let it happen…let it happen."

"Anders…Anders…It's here!"

Her thighs suddenly slammed together, trapping his hand between her legs as she thrust onto his fingers. The muscular walls of her throbbing sex began to pulse wildly as sexual energy and magical power both reached a crescendo of unity and Hawke cried aloud as she surrendered to an exhausting orgasm that bled the strength from her limbs and heralded a fresh flow of delicious cream from her centre.

Trembling with the aftershocks of her pleasure and with her magnificent chest rising and falling with each ragged breath, Hawke closed her eyes and stretched languidly. Anders simply smiled down at her, watching her limbs flexing gracefully as the ebbing tide of her climax finally rolled her to the shores of consciousness.

Wow…she appeared so beautiful, so relaxed and for the first time since he had known her, so completely his.

He couldn't help but laugh a little when her eyes finally fluttered open and she grinned at him.

"Are you back with us?" He asked, once more starting to move his fingers within her and delighting at the way they slid so freely in and out of her body as her legs parted once more.

"Only…just." She panted, her hand brushing against his stubbled cheek. "What was that…that thing you did…"

"Just a minor lightening spell to ah, add a little flavour." Anders felt his cheeks burning as she raised an amused eyebrow.

"A little flavour, huh?" She breathed, now reaching down to tug at the laces of his breeches. "Tell me…does it work on _everything_?"

"Oh, it works…" He murmured, as her fingers slid beneath the opened fabric to teasingly brush against his cock. "I could…show you…"

"I think I should like that…"

Hawke's tongue slipped suggestively between her lips and Anders felt his will coming undone. He had planned to make her wait, to touch her until she came again, or maybe to taste her delicious opening and swallow her next orgasm, prolonging the moment of their union until neither of them could stand it anymore, but just seeing her on the bed before him, naked, bathed in sweat, her organ glistening red and soaked through with need of him, it was too much.

"My love…" He almost cried with relief when his achingly hard shaft was finally freed from the confines of his clothes.

"Show me the spell again…" She insisted, gently wrapping her hand around his thickened shaft. "Let me feel you, as you have felt me…"

"I will…Oh Maker, that feels so good…"

He closed his eyes as she began to rhythmically pump his organ, sliding his foreskin back and forth and causing a surge of pleasure to swell dangerously at the root of his desire. The arcane phrases of his spell seemed to have disappeared from his memory and for a second, it was all he could do to hold back the building climax that threatened to explode all over her hand.

"Marian…" He gasped as the feeling increased, pushing him dangerously close to completion. "Marian, you must stop…I need to concentrate for just one moment and, I want to be inside you...I want to come inside you."

"Then I beg you…" Anders opened his eyes to see her propped up on her elbows, her lips red and inviting and a look that was meant only for him in her beautiful, grey eyes. "Fuck me Anders. Fuck me with everything you have and show me what is in your heart…all of it."

There was a cry of denial somewhere in the back of his mind. A yell of protest made by the spirit that had tried so hard to keep him from this moment, but with the woman of his dreams willing to share his love, his seed and his magic, Anders would not be denied.

"Maker help you, Marian Hawke."

Mana and vigour surged through Anders system as he withdrew his moistened digits from Hawkes body and then shoved down his breeches. In one fluid movement, he quickly pushed his knees between her legs and felt a rush of blood to his groin as she spread them wide beneath him, angling her hips to allow him to penetrate her as fully as he pleased. The hairs on his forearms stood on end as the words of the spell tumbled from his trembling lips and his cock hummed with electrical energy.

"Anders…?" There was a trace of nervousness in Hawke's voice as he placed his glistening tip at her entrance, but it was too late to stop now.

"Oh Marian!" He cried out as he began to ease himself directly into her heat and felt a jolt more powerful than anything he'd ever experienced.

"Anders…it feels so…you feel so…Maker above!" Hawke began to cry out in earnest now as he pushed into her, slowly filling her with his thickness as the magical currents flowed through him, into her, and as her juices eased his passage, the wet heat also served to intensify the sharply tingling sensation that arced from his shaft into her depths as he sheathed himself in the tightness of her body.

Inch by inch he claimed her, and moment by deliciously agonising moment he fought to keep from bursting forth into her wetness and filling her with his seed. The need to take her and make her scream his name was almost as powerful as the essence of magic that coursed through his veins and it was as if they were joined not only by flesh, but by spirit.

"Marian…" He groaned through gritted teeth, his muscles rigid with the need for release. "My love, I don't know if I can hold on for much longer…"

"You don't need to!" She gasped, thrusting her hips against him and impaling herself deep and hard on his aching cock. "I can feel it…I can feel you! Please Anders, please…let me feel more!"

"Oh fuck, Marian!"

Her name was a battle cry as he embraced the oblivion of ecstasy. The all-encompassing mixture of magic and sex surged through him as he began to drive into her, fucking her harder and harder as his climax surged up into his shaft and his eyes glowed with the potent energies of the Fade.

"Anders!" She wailed beneath him as her body began to spasm once again, another powerful orgasm causing her slick walls to contract wildly. "Anders…join me…I want to be with you!"

He wanted to tell her that he loved her! He wanted to tell her that this was one of the most magical moments of his life! He wanted to tell the world that he, Anders the Healer, was with the most wonderful woman in the whole of Thedas and that she meant more to him than anything else in this world or the next…but the sheer intensity of their union had robbed him of all speech.

A cry, part agony, part ecstasy tore from his lips as the first pulsing jets of semen erupted from his over-sensitised tip. He thrust down, spearing her to the bed as he sought to force even more of his length into her, the need to make her feel each and every moment of his climax making his limbs shake and his head swim as his blissful fluids pumped out of his cock like a libation in her honour.

Gradually, as awareness cleared the fog of orgasm from his mind, Anders found his hazel eyes falling once more upon the prone form of the beautiful Ferelden rogue-come-noblewoman that had so willingly given herself to him. She was limp and exhausted, but a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and there was a glint in the eyes that peeped out from beneath her sooty black lashes as she looked up at him.

"Hey…" She whispered, stroking his sweat soaked blonde hair and flushing a delicate shade of pink. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He laughed softly and looked down at his spent organ as it slipped from her body. "Worn out maybe, but definitely fine."

Considering what they had just shared, he actually felt a little embarrassed as he slid from between her legs and perched on the end of the bed. Maybe it was because his body was covered in a thick layer of sweat and his breeches were still halfway down his legs. Either that, or it was the sight of his cum spilling from her body as she moved to sit beside him…

An unexpected sadness tugged at his heart as he met her gaze and he quickly pulled her close, kissing her passionately for the longest time before gently cupping her face in his hands.

"I love you." He said solemnly, looking deeply into her cool grey eyes. "I've been holding back from saying that."

Suddenly, images of their lives to be flashed into his mind. He saw himself standing with other free mages, his body ablaze with raw power amid the burning ruins of the Chantry and the screams of the dying merging with the cries of the templars as they came for him. He saw her, fighting beside him with her deadly twin-blades, overwhelmed not only by templar steel, but by the magic he was unleashing to protect her…to protect them all. There was undeniably love in her expression, but also something else. Something that made his heart ache and tears spring to his eyes.

There was regret and worse still, there was fear…

_This is what will happen if she learns of our plans. This woman will never forgive you when she finds out what you must do..._

Anders squeezed his eyes tightly shut against the images and mentally tried to force Justice back into the recesses of his mind. This could not be, this should not be! He loved Hawke, loved her more than he could even begin to explain, but what if it wasn't enough? What if he hurt her?

What if he was wrong…?

Rising angrily to his feet, he pulled up his breeches and tried to make his unresponsive fingers tie the laces.

"You should have a normal life." He choked out, his face creasing as pain and doubt clouded his mind. "Not be tied down to a fugitive with no future…" He stopped as he felt her hand upon his shoulder and turned to see her looking at him with more love and compassion than he had ever known. Instantly, he ceased dressing and wrapped his arms about her shoulders, holding her tightly against his chest and letting his tears fall into her soft black hair. "I should let you go…but I don't ever want to leave you."

"Then don't." She whispered, her own voice choked with emotion. "Not now…not ever. Stay with me tonight and every night for the rest of our lives. I love you Anders, and I want you by my side…whatever happens."

He felt her shuddering in his grasp as she took deep ragged breaths, fighting to still the tears that she too could no longer contain.

"Do you mean that?" He breathed, pulling back to wipe them from her eyes as she gazed lovingly up at his face. "Would you have me here…living with you? Would you tell the world, the Knight-Commander that you love an apostate and will stand beside him?"

"Willingly, my love." She answered simply. "If you would have me?"

Anders crushed her to his chest as his lips pressed forcefully against hers. His tongue darted into her mouth and she accepted it greedily as she returned his kisses with such passion, that he tasted blood. Her body, so warm and still slick from their earlier exertions, stirred life back into his sleeping manhood and he gasped as desire once more snaked its needful tendrils into his loins.

"For three years I have lain awake every night, aching for you." He panted as she wrapped her legs about his waist. "I'm still terrified I'll wake up…"

"You will wake, my love." She replied, her smile as beautiful as the dawn. "But I will always be there beside you…now and forever."

Once he had deposited Hawke back upon her silken sheets, Anders finally managed to pull off his boots and breeches before entering her once more and yielding to the wet heat of her body, and although making love to her was one of the most wonderful things he had ever experienced…

There was nothing that could compare to the sight of her smiling face when he awoke beside her next morning.


End file.
